Day in the life of a (trainee) radiotherapy physicist

I've had a very busy day today full of an eclectic mix of tasks so I thought it might be a good day to do a bit of "day in the life of"/ reflecting. It's also Healthcare Science week so the perfect opportunity to share! 07:20 Arrive at work. I'm "on the early" which means … Continue reading Day in the life of a (trainee) radiotherapy physicist →

Ode to brachytherapy

It's my second month in my specialist placement and so I've moved on from a dosimetry rotation into a brachytherapy rotation. Seeing a brachytherapy operation in my rotational placement was the first time I thought "maybe I want to be a radiotherapy physicist" and so this was a big deal for me! Brachytherapy uses sealed … Continue reading Ode to brachytherapy →

Radiotherapy Physicist Week 1

My new desk detritus! I'm one whole week into my career as a radiotherapy physicist! I've got my professional hedgehogs mug, my bunnies 2020 calendar, my homemade diary cover and I am ready to smash it! I have learnt an astonishing amount in just one week, from the uses of in-vivo dosimetry to the use … Continue reading Radiotherapy Physicist Week 1 →

General Ultrasound

#MedicalPhysicistOnTourPart3 Christmas Eve Eve saw me heading to General Ultrasound. I've had a good few ultrasounds in my time but never on my liver so it was very interesting to watch a specialist sonographer and radiology consultant who specialises in ultrasound performing liver ultrasounds in advance of a liver clinic later on in the morning. … Continue reading General Ultrasound →

Vascular ultrasound

#MedicalPhysicistOnTourPart2 Today in Medical Physics on Tour Part 2, I spent the morning in Vascular Ultrasound. Vascular scientists perform routine and urgent ultrasounds on the vascular (blood vessel) system all over the body to diagnose and rule out a range of conditions including Deep Vein Thrombosis, aneurysms and checks on fistulas used for kidney dialysis. … Continue reading Vascular ultrasound →

Classic trainee panic in Nuc Med

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I'm contaminated, oh my goodness how did this happen!?!?! I was only dealing with non-active waste why is my right hand so radioactive!?!?Me, 2019. Spoiler alert- if a patient having a stress/rest myocardial perfusion scan and then comes over to ask you a question whilst you're monitoring yourself on a hand and foot monitor, … Continue reading Classic trainee panic in Nuc Med →

Cheeky London skyline view

It's a tough life testing dental x-rays on the 25th floor! Who needs the Shard's viewing platform? 😉

First doubts

It's taken 5 months but today I've experienced my first doubts about my suitability for the role of a medical physicist in the NHS. As medical physics experts, the team run various training courses. I've sat in on one for non-medical referrers of medical imaging (e.g. for podiatrists who refer patients for x-rays) and one … Continue reading First doubts →

CT Big Pharma

Today we're learning about CT optimisation procedures. Getting to know the equipment you're using is the main gist. For example, different companies employ different methods for Automatic Exposure Control (AEC) e.g. by looking at maintaining constant noise in an image or having a reference mAs determined by a phantom for a standard sized phantom. Knowing … Continue reading CT Big Pharma →

Got a desk and a cute mug!

I am ready for the world of work!